When Stephen Iovino was little, he liked to sit outside his Pittsburgh-area home and stargaze with a telescope.

"I find it fascinating — to think of the vastness of the universe," he said.

When Iovino retired as superintendent of the Warwick School District, in 2006, the 59-year-old planned to build his own telescope.

But he hasn't had the time to finish the reflector. He's been busy working as an educational consultant. Now that he is the acting superintendent of the School District of Lancaster, it may be a while longer before he gets to finish.

After three years, Rita Bishop resigned unexpectedly in June to take the superintendent job in the Roanoke, Va., school district.

Her departure left Lancaster without a leader one month before the start of school. By a 6-2 vote, the school board appointed Iovino in July because of his experience, and because he knows the school district.

In his consultant duties as a distinguished educator for the state Department of Education, he worked for the past year in the city district. The state program sends veteran educators to help schools struggling with low test scores.

Iovino has studied all of the data, the test scores, and helped school officials with plans to make improvements. He knows the district's strengths and weaknesses.

It was his time in the district that gave him the desire to serve as the acting superintendent.

"I've had an opportunity to see what programs are taking place and to see the concern and the caring" of district officials, who are working very hard to help students succeed, he said.

Last year was Damaso Albino's first year as principal of McCaskey East High School. Iovino has been a mentor to him.

"He was a person who was always willing to be there," Albino said.

The district will pay Iovino based on an annual salary of $155,000. Under his retirement, Iovino can work only 11 months, until June 30, 2008.

He will also receive health benefits from the district.

Iovino promises he won't become a lame-duck leader. The district is moving in a positive direction, he said. His job: keep up the momentum.

On this year's to-do list:

• Develop school-improvement plans.

• Continue development of a districtwide curriculum.

• Improve the graduation rate.

• Continue to build community partnerships.

• Continue strong money management: "Make sure we are accounting for where the money is going and hopefully begin building a budgetary reserve," Iovino said.

In the past two years, the district's finances have improved; it went from having a $3.4 million deficit to amassing a $1.9 million surplus.

But a district such as Lancaster's, which has a $149 million budget, should have a reserve of between $7.5 million to $11.5 million.

The district is also embarking on a $150 million capital improvement plan.

"The key piece in this is to make sure the community is involved," Iovino said.

Iovino led Warwick through school renovations and rebuilding Lititz Elementary School.

The latter raised some ire.

Lititz Elementary is a beloved downtown icon, a neighborhood school.

The district held community meetings and gave residents a voice in the process. The meetings helped calm the fire, Iovino said.

"You still have naysayers," Iovino said. "You may not agree with everyone, but they can't say you didn't make them a part of the process."

Meanwhile, the Lancaster school district and the Lancaster Education Association have not settled negotiations on the teachers' contract. It expired June 30.

In addition, the school board needs to hunt for a permanent superintendent. Iovino will work with the board to develop the process.

Along the way, it's vital the district includes parents, students, teachers, staff, board members and residents in the process, Iovino said.

To accomplish this and more, Iovino will lean on his expertise.

Among his strengths: using technology in classrooms, development of curriculum, decision-making based on data, and school construction.

Iovino's experience, coupled with his personality, are what convinced the school board president he would bring stability to a district in transition.

"He has a very calm demeanor to him," Patrick Snyder said. "I like that about him very much."

The ability to remain calm in a crisis is important, Snyder said.

But perhaps Iovino's biggest asset is his leadership style.

Iovino says his philosophy is to seek to understand, and only then seek to be understood.

That, he says, will serve him well — even though his resume does not include extensive time in an urban school district.

His job is not to dictate. It's to make others successful in their goals.

"If people know I'm genuinely trying to solve their problem, and I'm treating them with respect, hopefully, they will approach me in that same manner," he said.

In the meantime, here's a little background on Iovino for anyone wondering who he is.

Warwick superintendent John George was the assistant superintendent under Iovino. He calls Iovino a man of the "highest integrity."

Iovino and his wife, Judy, a retired Manheim Township High School math teacher, have four grown sons.

He has a 6-week-old granddaughter (his eyes light up when he talks about her). He enjoys weight-training and astronomy, and is a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

His family is the most important part of his life.

They live in the area, so they often have Sunday dinner together — typically a pasta dish — at the Iovino's Lititz home on East Fourth Avenue. Iovino is part Italian and Croatian.

Thirty-eight years ago, he began his career as a math teacher at a junior high school in Monroeville. About eight years later, he became an assistant principal at Everett Junior/Senior High School in Bedford County. In July 1983, he became the principal of Warwick High School. From 1990 to 1998, he was assistant superintendent of the Red Lion School District.

When John Bonfield retired as superintendent of Warwick in 1998, Iovino became his successor.

Speaking of Bonfield, it seems Lancaster has a penchant for hiring retired Warwick educators.

In 2004, when Ricardo Curry resigned as superintendent of Lancaster, Bonfield served as the interim superintendent until Bishop came on board in July 2004.

Iovino said that returning to Warwick from Red Lion in the late 1990s "was not an accident."

"I had a positive experience as principal of the high school," he said.

The circumstances of his new role in Lancaster, however, are coincidence.

If he hadn't been working already as a distinguished educator, he said, "I don't think I'd be sitting here today."

CONTACT US: rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025